The Turkish embassy hosted a grand reception at a hotel in downtown Seoul last Wednesday to commemorate the 91st anniversary of founding the Republic of Turkey. Over 500 distinguished guests, Korean and international, attended the event.

Among the participants were Korea-Turkey Parliamentary Friendship Group chairman Lee Hahn-koo, first vice minister of foreign affairs Cho Tae-yong and Minister of patriots and veterans affairs Park Sung-choon.

Turkish ambassador to Korea Arslan Hakan Okcal said in a keynote speech, “Today we are celebrating the 91st foundation anniversary of the Republic of Turkey by our great leader Kemal Atatrk. Our nation was not only a culmination of a long and painful liberation war against foreign occupations, but also a revolutionary departure from the ashes of a collapsed empire to create a new state and society based on modern values.”

Turkey is a regional powerhouse dedicating its efforts toward a safer world and is an inspiration for many emerging countries, the ambassador added.

Okcal said that Turkey and Korea are “time-tested close friends” whose bond dawned from the 1950-53 Korean War; Turkey sent 15,000 troops as a free world ally. The commitment also led to the term, “blood brothers,” to describe the countries’ earmarked relations.

“Today, the world is no safer than the Korean War years. The threats we face are more serious and asymmetric than ever,” the ambassador stressed, referring to the dangers posed by ongoing crises in the Middle East and the ISIS, which triggered massive waves of Kurdish refugees toward the Turkish border. The main concern of the Turkish government is to prevent unmitigated entry by the hordes of Kurdish refugees into the country that could trigger a separatist insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, analysts say. 

Ockal said 2014 was a year of grief and self-reflection for both Korean and Turkish peoples. Korea was turned upside down by the Sewol ferry disaster, which shook the country’s foundations; politicians and citizens questioned themselves on what needs to be done to overhaul the dismal state of affairs, which, according to critics, culminated in the catastrophe killing 304 people. The lax safety regulation and botched administrative response revealed through the Sewol incident were equally exposed in Turkey’s Soma coal mine disaster only two weeks later, which claimed almost the same number of casualties at 301.

Turkey had its first democratic presidential election in Aug 2014, with a landslide victory for the incumbent Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As a result of the 2007 constitutional referendum, it was the first presidential election to be held nationally as opposed to by the parliamentary voting among the assemblymen. South Korean foreign minister Yun Byung-se attended the presidential inauguration ceremony in Ankara in late August.

Other visits reciprocated include Istanbul mayor Kadir Topbas visiting Korea in September for the “Istanbul in Korea” events in Seoul, Busan and Gyeongju, and Turkish parliament president Cemil Cicek making an official visit for inter-parliamentary exchange in October.

After the bilateral relations were elevated to strategic partnership in 2012, Turkey and Korea have been seeking new ways to bolster ties in diplomacy, trade, tourism and cultural areas.

The MIKTA initiative ― an alliance of middle power nations of Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia ― was first set in motion in Sept 2013 to streamline cooperation in the field of global governance. The group aims to enhance dialogues on trade and development, climate change, nuclear disarmament and democratization. The countries have similar characteristics in their political structure and economy as rapidly growing G-20 nations with maturing democracies.

Turkey will be chairing the G-20 on Dec 1, 2014, for a consecutive year.

Turkey and Korea concluded free trade agreements in March 2012, which came into force last year. It is the first FTA that Turkey signed with an Asia-Pacific country. This year, by installing the “investments” and “services” parts of the FTA, both countries will seek to increase, diversify and balance the two-way commerce, currently at $7 billion fast approaching the $10 billion benchmark by 2017, Okcal said.

Okcal said that Korean investments are increasing in Turkey although the level is “not yet corresponding to the full capacity of both countries.” He cited tourism as the core enterprise benefiting both parties. Turkey is a major tourism destination for Koreans, who flock to the ancient cultural sites possessing treasure troves of relics and edifices from the Ottoman Empire, as well as to the picturesque beaches and turquoise waters off the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Sea.

More than 200 thousand Korean tourists visited Turkey in 2014, which hosts 40 million travellers a year. The main sponsor of the reception, the Turkish Airlines, has 11 direct flights between Istanbul and Seoul every week.

By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)